Growing Pains

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

Atlantic High

Among County

Schools With Long

Lists Of Needs.

DELRAY BEACH — The weight room at Atlantic High School is tiny, with torn blue carpeting, dingy walls and old equipment. It was once a locker room.

The cafeteria is so crowded that the students eat outside and in the hallways.

And the wrestling room ... well, it doesn't exist.

"Our wrestling room is a bunch of mats piled up in one corner of our already overcrowded cafeteria," explained Maurice Blackwood, 18, senior class president and member of Atlantic's School Improvement Committee. "Every time the wrestling team practices, they pull out the mats in the cafeteria and roll 'em up again when they're done. It's a real pain."

A real growing pain, that is. Atlantic High School is one of many Palm Beach County schools addressing the issues of current needs versus current size, and they say they are coming up short.

The School Improvement Committee, made up of three students, the principal, assistant principals and some concerned parents, recently examined Atlantic's needs and developed a list of priorities.

The top four priorities are expanding cafeteria seating and the gymnasium and constructing a weight room and a wrestling room.

Then the Improvement Committee, along with 80 or so parents on the Atlantic School Advisory Committee, invited School Board members, community leaders and school administrators to a presentation about those needs, which included viewing a student-produced video comparing Atlantic to other schools and taking a "good news, bad news tour" of the school.

"When you compare our school to other high schools, the physical building just does not measure up," Principal Carole Shetler said. "Many of our rooms and buildings are filled to design capacity. We're talking about important issues that affect the quality of life at our school."

Blackwood and McGill worked with students Gavin Grow and Justin Peters and media teacher Steve Willis. The media class then produced a video comparing Atlantic's trouble spots - the cafeteria, weight room, gym and wrestling area - to those same areas at Lake Worth High, Olympic Heights and Santaluces.

"We've accomplished a lot at Atlantic but more needs to be done," said McGill, 17, student government secretary. "When I was first here as a freshman, there were dances in the gym and pep rallies were held inside. But school enrollment has grown too much and the gym can't handle major functions anymore."

Blackwood added his views as a student and as an athlete.

"We don't have adequate equipment or room to work out," Blackwood said. "The track team can't work out at the same time as the basketball team. There's just not enough room for everyone to practice at once.

"And sometimes it is just too hard to get to lunch. We have to stand in line for 20 minutes or more, another 20 minutes looking for a place to eat and spend about five minutes gulping down our food."

Blackwood and McGill point out that the areas they are complaining about are documented as areas that have been approved by the Department of Education. They just want to speed up the process through the school board and make sure the money is allocated to do the construction.

"We need to get this project on the fast track," Blackwood said. "The freshman class doesn't know what's going on and we have to do something about it before it's too late."

Renee Romano of Boca Raton, chairman of the Atlantic School Advisory Committee, speculated that the video presentation and tour was a success. She said she received positive feedback from board members and administration in attendance that day.

"I sincerely hope they were able to see we're not looking for icing on the cake," Romano said. "We need to expand our core facilities. These are necessities."

Romano's two sons attend Atlantic High School and she hopes the video and tour made a strong impact on board members.